"finishing Hops"

[North_Sydney_Bears]

Hi Guys, Ben here,

 

 

During my lunch break today I went to the local Hardware-cum-Home Brew supplier. Keeping in mind I have 2 english bitters and 1 cerveca can.

 

Being pissed off with the result of my dex/brown sugar laden heritage toucan I decided to splash out and buy a 500gm pack of LDM at 10 dollars!!!?? and 3 x 15 gm galaxy finishing hops packs.

 

The instructions on the finishing hops said to boil with 500ml of water and then add into fv.

 

Is it possible I could just chuck all 3 into 1litre of boiling water?.

 

And what do the elders of the forum think might happen with a brew of:

 

1xEB can, 1xMC can, 500gm LDM, 1kg BE2, 3X15 Galaxy finishing hops?.

 

Cheers

[Nick]

If it were me, I would boil the water, then steep the 3 hop bags in "just off boil" water for about 15 minutes and then add to the FV. Maybe consider a dry hop to add aroma to the flavour that steeping releases.

 

[North_Sydney_Bears]

Cheers Nick... so you think boil the water and then wait a bit for it to cool a little than add the bags?.

 

With over a gorilla of posts its great to see you reply to my post. How come I haven't seen you during my short history here!!.

 

By dry hopping do you mean buying hop pellets and throwing them in the fv?.

 

I was very confused with the pricing of hops today. I only took the galaxy hops after seeing a youtube clip made by CUB a few years back about them making their 90 dollar bottle of crown lager reserve. They went to a hops grower in victoria that was talking up the galaxy variety.

 

the 15gm packs of galaxy "finishing" hops were only 3.5 dollars each. Yet a 50 gram bag of boring old POR pellets were like 15 dollars.

 

So does that mean that finishing hops are just an extract or something?.

 

[Beerlust]

Hi NSB.

 

Two recipes using what you stated you currently have.

 

My own 2 cents...

 

ESB recipe:

 

Coopers EB kit 1.7kgs

Light Dry Malt 500gms

Dextrose or table sugar 300gms

(* BUY THIS!) - CaraMalt or Light Crystal grain 250gms (Combine it in a pot with 1 litre of approx. 70°C water for 30mins with the lid on, then strain the liquid (wort) obtained from this directly into your FV).

In a suitable sized pot bring 2-2.5 litres of water combined with 200gms of Light Dry Malt to the boil & add 15gms of Galaxy & allow to boil for 3mins, then turn the flame off your burner, & place this pot in a sink & surround with fresh cold tap water up to a minimal height of the liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for 30mins, then strain this liquid into your FV & combine with the rest of the ingredients & fill to 23 litres.

 

Pitch yeast & ferment at approx. 20°C. It should produce a decent English EB/Mild.

 

Cerveza recipe:

 

Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit 1.7kg

Coopers BE2 1kg

In a suitable sized pot bring 2-2.5 litres of water combined with 200gms of the BE2 to the boil, then turn off the burner & add 15gms of Galaxy & place this pot in a sink & surround with fresh cold tap water up to a minimal height of the liquid in the pot. Allow to cool for 30mins, then strain this liquid into your FV & combine with the rest of the ingredients & fill to 21 litres.

 

Pitch yeast & ferment at approx. 18°C. After 4-5 days, place 15gms of galaxy in a chux cloth (or something similar) & add into the fermenter.

 

It should produce a very nice aromatic, clean tasting Cerveza.

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony.

[Nick]

Hi Ben, as soon as you the water is off the boil you can throw the hopbags in, don't worry about letting the water cool as precise temps are more important when steeping grains. If you grab a couple more hopbags, wait until fermentation has slowed and toss them in as well. I normally use pellets rather than hopbag and if you buy them, you can throw them in loose. Some of the lads put pellets in a chux or steel infuser, but i never have a drama with floating hop matter, so its commando style for me.

Hey, don't take any notice of the number of posts, i am a true believer of quantity over quality anyday mate.

[Hairy]

Hey' date=' don't take any notice of the number of posts, i am a true believer of quantity over quality anyday mate.[img']biggrin[/img]

Quantity over quality - I couldn't agree more Nick

 

NSB, the recipe you mentioned in the OP will end up just over 7% if brewed to 23 litres. It is a big beer but not necessarily out of balance when looking the numbers and more in the IPA territory.

 

Galaxy is an odd choice for the EB kit but it may turn out really nice. Just because it isn't the norm doesn't mean it won't work. Have you tried Galaxy before? It gives off quite strong passionfruit flavour and aroma.

 

If you are going to start brewing brewing hops then you may want to look at buying some online; they will be cheaper than your Hardware-Brew shop and have more variety. Buy a few different varieties and store them in the freezer. That way you spread the cost of postage across several packets.

 

I have a decent homebrew shop near me but when buying online I use either of these:

 

Hop Dealz Australia

 

Craftbrewer

 

There are plenty more out there.

[North_Sydney_Bears]

Thanks for the detailed reply Beerlust!. What is the abv of your EB recipe?.

 

So at estimated 7% hairy, the LDM and hops should balance the ABV?.

 

There was not rhyme or reason as to why I got the galaxy hops. Probably I was just shiocked to see it stocked. They only had that and POR. As said in he OP I was a little star struck after seeing the Gaxlaxy after the video I saw on it re CUB crown lager reserve.

 

On an interesting note my 2 fav beers are the extra strong vintage ale and sierra nevada torpedo ale.

 

Could my proposed brew be a compromise between the 2 styles?

 

BTW due to not having to work tomorrow I got another pack of the vintage. I am currently going 1 for 1 with my heritage lager toucan. Call me uncouth or lacking in taste buds....but right now the only differences I can pick up between the 2 is that the toucan is slightly sweeter and lacks head.???